SciencePoles news
Recent Polar Science and Climate Change news are featured here. Our news RSS feed will inform you when news are published on this website.
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New Research Sheds Light on Antarctica’s Melting Pine Island Glacier
21.06.2010
The Pine Island Glacier (PIG) in West Antarctica has been identified as a major source of the region’s contribution to sea level rise according to research conducted by scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) and the National Oceanography Centre, Southhampton (UK) recently released in…
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Warming Antarctic Peninsula Has Consequences for Marine Ecosystems
21.06.2010
The western edge of the Antarctic Peninsula has seen a 6°C rise in winter temperatures over the past 50 years, and the effects on marine ecosystems have been quite profound. A new study recently published in Science as part of the research being conducted at the US's Palmer Station under…
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Antarctic Whaling Ban Essential for Whale Preservation, WWF Report says
21.06.2010
A new report, issued by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), says a ban on whaling in the Southern Ocean is crucial for the recovery of whale populations in the entire southern hemisphere. As the 62nd International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting approaches, the Save the Whale, Save the Southern Ocean report…
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Tricky Sea Ice Predictions Call for Scientists to Open Their Data
18.06.2010
As Arctic sea ice levels reach record lows this month, a new report called Sea Ice Outlook calls for caution in over-interpreting a few weeks’ worth of data from the Arctic. The report compares a dozen teams’ predictions on disappearing sea ice by the end of the warm season in…
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Polar Oceans’ Influence on the Tropics
18.06.2010
Research conducted by an international team of scientists and recently published in the journal Science demonstrates a close link between the changes in the subpolar climate and the development of the modern tropical Pacific climate approximately 2 million years ago. The researchers studied the Northern Pacific and Southern Atlantic sea-surface…
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Airborne Thickness Survey of Arctic Ice Offers Reassuring Feedback
17.06.2010
A team of researchers from the University of Alberta dispatched an electromagnetic "bird" to the Arctic to provide a more detailed look of the actual state of the sea ice. The data they collected seems reassuring, as they found large expanses of ice four to five metres thick.
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Southern Ocean Sperm Whale Useful Ally in Struggle against Climate Change
16.06.2010
New research shows that the Southern Ocean Sperm whale can remove large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere, which makes the species a special ally in the struggle against climate change.
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Scientists Herald Importance of Satellite Observations
16.06.2010
Scientists highlighted the exceptional contribution satellites have made to the International Polar Year (IPY) and charting the effects of climate change at the recent IPY Oslo Science Conference. During the IPY, the European Space Agency (ESA) provided coordinated observations of the Arctic and Antarctic using its Earth observation satellites such…
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IPY Oslo Science Conference: Largest Ever Gathering of Polar Scientists
15.06.2010
Between the 8th and 12th of June 2010, about 2,300 scientists, policymakers, teachers, journalists and students gathered at the Norway Convention Centre in Lillestrøm close to Oslo at the largest ever gathering of the polar research community: the IPY Oslo Science Conference. During the five days of the conference, researchers,…
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Elephant Seals Provide Clues to Wilkins Ice Shelf Breakups
14.06.2010
The Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica has suffered several breakups recently: in 1998, 2008, and 2009. What is unknown, however, is the cause of the collapses. In an effort to find out more, researchers equipped elephant seals with sensors to study the ocean depths beneath the ice shelf.
